Just got back from Anderson’s Book Shop in Naperville, Illinois where I co-presented with the awesome, Nicki Anderson. Nicki is a personal trainer and was most recently on the Dr. Oz show. She has helped thousands achieve their health and fitness goals with her realistic and consistent approach. Nicki and I share the same “101” approach – with her newest book Single Step Weight Loss Solution with 101 tips and my 101 Optimal Life Foods – we made a great team telling the audience at Anderson’s that you don’t have to go to extremes to meet your health and fitness goals.
I love Nicki’s shirt “Dieting Sucks“. And so does wearing a size large when you are an extra large! Ha. But my wife will look forward t wearing as a workout shirt.
You can see on the table that I brought some brownies to the event and yes, they were the famous “Beanie Greenie” brownies fron my recipe contributor, Deb Schiff of Altered Plates. They were a big hit!
And one of the neatest things was I got to meet Sean Wilson of Learn Fitness. Sean has lost over 150 pounds by adopting simular philosophies as found in the 101 Foods approach and by being tenacious about exercising. Sean picked up on a Tweet I sent out about the event and luckily, lived near by. Congrats to Sean on his wonderful accomplishements and also for being a supporter of my work. In fact, Sean picked up two books for himself and two books to be given away on his blog. You can follow Sean on Twitter @learnfitness.
I recently was interviewed by a journalist who asked me, “Do you have any regrets about the two books you wrote?” My response was “Yes! Not having pictures of the recipes!” So I thought I’d share a few with you today.
What has been so cool about writing these two books of mine are the fantastic recipes that are featured in them. In fact, they are soooooooooo good that I double-dare the most worldly foodie to find tastier, healthy recipes that can make taste buds jump for joy like these recipes can!
Participants who attended my cooking demo this past Tuesday and Wednesday night at the Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking agreed – the recipes are über delicious. And let me clarify, it wasn’t really my cooking demo. In fact, I didn’t cook a darn thing. It was these two wonderful chefs (Chef Elizabeth Wiley from the Meadowlark Restaurant and Chef Carrie Walters from the Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking pictured below) and their able assistants who made my latest book, 101 Optimal Life Foods come alive on all the plates that evening.
Why were the following dishes so special? I literally gave each of these chefs a list of ingredients to use for their recipes in the book and said to them “Make something that tastes amazing”. And everyone agreed that evening that great taste and good health lived as one in those recipes. Here’s a sampling of the dishes we featured and the corresponding page numbers in the book.
Gazpacho with garlic croutons, creme fraiche, local veggies and a hint of Tabasco! (page 276)
Boy… this soup is so easy to make, fun to eat, and so refreshing. One bowl is only a 130 calories and meets most of your veggie requirements for the day!
Asparagus-Sesame Stir Fry (page 362) Such a wonderful dish. The key is to not overcook the asparagus – leave it fairly crispy. This is a fave recommendation to my patients who have digestive complaints. Asparagus contains inulin which promotes friendly bacteria in the gut. Perfect for IBS sufferers.
Chicken Thighs with Red Wine, Prunes and Garlic (page 323) Only 3 grams of saturated fat per serving!
See that white stuff that looks like whipped potatoes on the top left of the plate? Yes, the stuff that is sopping up that delish wine-prune-garlic gravy. That’s not whipped taters at all – it’s creamy mashed cauliflower. It was a recipe by Chef Walters that was dreamt up the first day of the class. Let me tell you, it was EXCELLENT and a huge hit with the class. It is not featured in my book. But it is your lucky day – Chef Walters just sent me the recipe – here it is!
“Optimal” Cauliflower
by Chef Elizabeth Wiley and Chef Carrie Walters
Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
2 T olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ C chicken or vegetable Stock
4 T Greek yogurt
2 t balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large pot of boiling water, cook florets until tender about 8 minutes. Drain well and return to pot. Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a small sauté pan and briefly sauté the garlic until fragrant but not brown and remove from heat. Mash or process the cauliflower with the olive oil, chicken stock and yogurt until desired consistency is reached. We like it with some texture. Add the balsamic vinegar and season to taste with the salt and pepper. Enjoy!
Beanie Greenie Brownie (page 309)
This was a dessert that was submitted by Deb Schiff of Altered Plates. This is one of the best brownies I have ever had and contains carob NOT cocoa. Nothing wrong with cocoa – it’s in my book – but this recipe is perfect for those who may have a sensitivity\allergy to cocoa. Besides, carob is wonderful for the digestive tract. And if you don’t want to use carob, swap it out for cocoa powder and chocolate chips.
Lastly, we ended our exhausting two-day cooking demo and lecture at Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking with our own song “Pans on the Ground”. Enjoy!
David, for about 10 years, all different friends of mine have been swearing by these drinks. Genesis, Noni, Goji, Xango, Limu, and MonaVie, Z Radical Health Juices. *My nail guy swears by Monavie, others Limu, and Xango. Just inquiring what you think about these drinks? I look forward to hearing from you. Do any of your patients ever talk about using these drinks? I would like your feedback.
Kristy
Kristy:
Coming from a guy who wrote about 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life, not one of them, in my opinion, were so fantastic that they were $30+ bucks a pop! Unfortunately, many of these superfood drinks don’t contain enough of the good stuff to warrant the often outrageous price tag that goes with them.
That said, some of my patients swear by them. There may be positive research on some of the featured ingredients (notice I did NOT say MAIN ingredients), rare is it that the actual formula is featured in the actual research. Bottom line. Save your money and eat the real deal. Can’t find some of the more exotic superfruit at your local grocery store, then turn to the ol’ standby superfruits such as Strawberries, Cherries, Blueberries, etc, which have substantially more research behind them than the bottled stuff does. And heck, its cheaper and tastes better. Hope that helps!!
Why were the following dishes so special? I literally gave each of these chefs a list of ingredients to use for their recipes in the book and said to them “Make something that tastes amazing”. And everyone agreed that evening that great taste and good health lived as one in those recipes. Here’s a sampling of the dishes we featured and the corresponding page numbers in the book.
David Grotto's Nutrition Housecall 